Northern Dragon Fist, a my little pony fanfic

So this is my latest attempt at a fanfic. Now then, before you ask, it's heavily influenced by and loosely based on Fist of the North Star, and it also has some influence from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. This is another one of those "Human-In-Equestria" fanfics, but my way of doing it is an alternate universe fic where humans, whose culture, looks, and names in this story are based off of the various Turkic, Mongolian, Tungusic, and Iranian (primarily Scythian) Steppe Nomad Cultures of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, are already one of the various races of Equis. Their realm, Humania has a name that is an intentional pun on the name of Cumania, a Turkic country that existed in an area of land that covered Eastern Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Southern Russia, Northern Kazakhstan, and even Western Mongolia and Northwestern China, and lasted from the 10th Century up until 1241, when it was conquered by the Mongol Empire. As for where in Equis this human realm is, it's east of the Dragon and Griffon lands, and if the Dragon and Griffon lands represent Africa and Europe respectively, then Humania represents Asia. That means that Humania is quite literally on the other side of the world from Equestria, which serves a plot point for why the human main character of this fic decides to go to Equestria.

Now then, I might get a few complaints about how this human main character of mine is "too powerful" or a "Mary Sue/Marty Stu", but let me remind you that this main character is NOT the only one with these kinds of powers. There's a whole group of humans with powers like him, and not all of them are good guys (although, of these not-so-good-guys, only one of them has their villainy shown onscreen, but he's going to be the worst). Besides, it's not just going to be humans who have these sorts of powers.

Please be warned that this is going to be a pretty violent and dark fanfic, so if I could give it the rating I wanted to, would give it a rating of 15+ (somewhere between T and M). I'm going to have it at T for now, but I may or may not move it up to M later.

It was a beautiful day in the steppe lands of Humania. The wind wove among the many, many, many grasses, rippling them like the waves of the ocean. The sky was only partly cloudy, and the sun was shining brightly in the sky. Birds of all types flew through the late morning air, searching for whatever would be their lunch for the day. And on the ground below lived the creatures that gave the realm its name: Humans.

It was a rare time of peace in Humania. Nearly a hundred years ago, the previous Khan (the Human equivalent of a Prince or King) was overthrown by insurrectionists seeking to take the throne for themselves, and then everything had gone downhill from there, with bandits and brigands of all kinds beginning to roam the land, terrorizing the innocent, and taking whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. For a long time, to those living in Griffonstone, and even the Dragon Lands, it seemed like Humania was a failed state. But then, nearly a century later, hope rose anew in a form that was familiar in Human society: the Tusgai Tulaany Urlag, or, as the translation for the name was, Special Martial Arts. You see, there were four main schools of these martial arts depending on the location, though each one had very few practitioners.

In the north, there was Khoid Luu Nudarga (Northern Dragon Fist), the art of the Oirat Tribe, a fiery art best known for involving a great deal of flames, the use of the practitioner's Touki (the word being a Neighponese loanword that meant "fighting spirit" or "battle aura"), and also the pressing of certain points on the body to cause certain effects, though the most notable effect was the head or entire body of the victim exploding in a red mess. In the east, there was Dornod Unetchuluu Nudarga (Eastern Precious Stone Fist), the art of the Korchin tribe, which, like Khoid Luu Nudarga, made use of Touki and pressure points, but replaced the fire with what was basically magic. Then, to the south, there was Omnod Shuvuu Nudarga (Southern Bird Fist), the art of the Tsahar Tribe, a fast, free-spirited art that allowed its practitioners to move like birds in the sky, and to kill enemies by slicing or stabbing them to pieces...with their own bare hands. Not to mention that Omnod Shuvuu Nudarga had 5 sub-schools, that were each named after a type of bird: Omnod Burged Nudarga, which was named after the eagle, Omnod Usnyshuvuud Nudarga, which was named after the waterfowl, Omnod Temeenkhyaruul Nudarga, which was named after the ostrich, Omnod Galtshuvuu Nudarga, which was named after the phoenix, and Omnod Togoruu Nudarga, which was named after the crane. Finally, to the west, there was Baruun Gereltsen Nudarga (Western Radiant Fist), the art of the Mongol tribe, which had a major focus on energy attacks that killed as far as the cellular level, disintegrating the enemy.

Almost a century after the fall of the previous Human Khanate, there were 18 practitioners of these martial arts in total.

Of Khoid Luu Nudarga, there were four practitioners, a group of adopted brothers of the Oirat Tribe who were taken in by the previous successor of the art, Abaqa. Their names were Ile, Khasar, Ariq, and Baki, being oldest to youngest in that respective order. With the exception of Ariq, who despised his brothers and would later commit actions which gained him the label "Ariq the Traitorous", all of the brothers loved and cared for each other as if they were related by blood, even though they actually weren't, and they made quite a team. In terms of personality, all four varied in some way. Ile was ambitious, somewhat arrogant, and tended to mock his enemies if they screwed up, not to mention that he had little in the way of tact, but nonetheless had a heart in him, not standing for attacks on innocents, especially not women and children, as his enemies who did those things found out the hard way all too often. Khasar was a wise, benevolent, pacifistic individual who preferred to use Khoid Luu Nudarga as a healing art (and yes, it could be used that way), curing the ailments of the various individuals who came to him needing treatment, but nonetheless could fight hard and well if he needed to. Baki was basically a mix of Ile and Khasar in terms of personality: kind, benevolent, and wishing to help the innocent, but tending to mock his enemies, show no mercy to them if they attacked the innocent, and fly into a rage if those enemies attacked women or children. And then there was Ariq. Ariq. Just...Ariq. Ariq was...clearly not right in the head from the start. For one thing, he had a MASSIVE sense of self that seemed to crowd out things like common sense, decency, and sanity, for he was both by and far the craziest of the four brothers, and, to put it bluntly, the biggest asshole of them all, being willing to descend to the same sort of banditry and brigandry that his brothers fought against. This put him at odds with the others, who saw Ariq as someone who really needed to be taken out sooner or later before he began any spree of massacring and torturing innocents.

Of Omnod Shuvuu Nudarga, there were five practitioners, each one being the successor to one of the five sub-arts, and they were all unrelated, though they were all of the Tsahar Tribe. Of Omnod Burged Nudarga, there was Jochi, a young man who, once mastering his art, immediately ran away from his harsh father, who was the previous successor of the art, to be with Sechen, a young woman whom he loved. Though his personality might have seemed unremarkable to one of us, the fact that he was respectful towards women and treated them like equals was rare on the steppes of Humania. Of Omnod Usnyshuvuud Nudarga, there was Irinchibal, a young man who was a year younger than Jochi, and had a very similar personality to him, being in love with a woman himself, with her name being Dagasi, though the main difference in personality between Jochi and Irinchibal was that while Jochi's wrath was more subdued, making him appear uncannily calm when dealing with bandits and brigands, Irinchibal, being quite hot-blooded, tended to go into flat-out rage when bandits mistreated women or children. Of Omnod Temeenkhyaruul Nudarga, there was Adai, a devious, narcissistic, scheming, cunning opportunist who was disliked by his fellow Omnod Shuvuu Nudarga practitioners for his mistreatment of women, and Adai also had a thing for making Irinchibal's life miserable. Then, Of Omnod Galtshuvuu, there was Kublai, a man who, despite being quite arrogant, egotistical, and boastful, was nonetheless loyal to a fault, as once he actually liked someone, or if there was someone in need, he'd make absolute sure that he never let them down. Finally, of Omnod Togoruu Nudarga, there was Jorightu, older than the others of Omnod Shuvuu Nudarga, but a very kindhearted and benevolent man who never let his blindness get in the way, taking up the job of raising children who were orphaned by the harsh conditions of the steppes.

Of Baruun Gereltsen Nudarga, there were also five practitioners, all of the Mongol Tribe, though they were somewhat split into two camps in terms of morals and ideology. The main successor to Baruun Gereltsen Nudarga, whose name was Ogodei, was a noble individual with a strong sense of justice who treated those under him like either little brothers or sons depending on their age. Two other practitioners of Baruun Gereltsen Nudarga, Jamukha and Bayan, were individuals who were most notable for their great loyalty to Ogodei, and sharing his morals and sense of justice. But the two other practitioners of Baruun Gereltsen Nudarga, Chagatai and Koke, were both self-serving insurrectionists who believed that Ogodei was unfit to be leading their tribe, and believed that they themselves could do better than him.

Of Dornod Unetchuluu Nudarga, there were four practitioners, much like Khoid Luu Nudarga, but with all of them being of the Korchin Tribe. The oldest and most notable practitioner of them was Temuge, a mountain of a man who could give even Ile a run for his money in terms of strength, and yet quite fast and agile for all of his size. As for personality, though he was quite stubborn and had something of an ego, Temuge was a hard worker, a skilled warrior, and an honest man, never telling a lie for anything, though his honesty meant a lack of tact, much like with Ile. His younger foster brother, Qutlugh, was another practitioner of the art, and the closest to him in terms of skill and strength. Qutlugh's relationship with his older brother was one akin to Baki's with Ile, admiring him and seeing him as a role model. Qutlugh's fashion of fighting with his art was based more on speed than raw strength, though this was more out of personal preference, as he himself wasn't lacking in strength at all. He, like his brother, was skilled with combat and very honest, though he wasn't as stubborn as, and much less egotistical than, his older brother, and had more tact with the truth. The third practitioner of Dornod Unetchuluu Nudarga was a young man named Batu. Though younger than, not as strong as, and less skilled than Qutlugh, let alone Temuge, Batu was nevertheless a very good fighter, being an equivalent to Omnod Shuvuu Nudarga's Irinchibal in terms of personality, in that he had a strong sense of justice and was chivalrous to a fault, and wouldn't stand for women or children being attacked by thugs. And finally, there was the fourth practitioner, Qarshidet. Qarshidet was a bored man who sought a challenging battle, a challenging foe, or both at once. He, too, was a skilled warrior who was someone to be feared and respected when it came to combat, but he was also very ambitious, believing that one had to have ambition if he wished to succeed in life.

At this time, Ile, Khasar, and Baki, all of them tired of seeing people suffer needlessly at the hands of bandits and thugs, finally decided that the best way to help the innocent was to unite the continent under one banner. They would do this by first destroying the gangs to the north, and then seeking out the practitioners of the other Tusgai Tulaany Urlag, teaming up with them, and destroying all of the bandit gangs that were roaming the rest of Humania, and then, together, they'd form a new Khanate, or in this case, a Khaganate.

It worked even better than they thought for the most part, despite the issue of, of course, Ariq.

The three of them destroyed utterly the bandit gangs of the North, and then when that was done, after a brief time of planning, it was decided that Ile would seek the practitioners of Dornod Unetchuluu Nudarga, Khasar would seek the practitioners of Baruun Gereltsen Nudarga, and Baki would seek the practitioners of Omnod Shuvuu Nudarga. When approached with the idea, and with the exception of Adai, who joined because he was obsessed with proving that his style was "beautiful" and better than Irinchibal's, Chagatai and Koke, who joined because they expected to be rewarded with riches, women, and high positions in the new Khaganate, and Qarshidet, who joined because he wanted action, battle, and bloodshed, all of the practitioners were on board with the notion that the common humans had suffered far too much, and it was time to end the suffering and troubles that had plagued them for nearly a century, and so they eagerly joined in on the plan.

And so, with Baki and the Omnod Shuvuu Nudarga practitioners forming a team, Khasar and the Baruun Gereltsen Nudarga practitioners forming a team, and Ile and the Dornod Unetchuluu Nudarga practitioners forming a team, all of these powerful warriors destroyed bandit gang after bandit gang after bandit gang in the South, the West, and the East respectively. Some groups of bandits that the warriors destroyed were quite notable and memorable. There was the Dandon Shtavm (Fang Clan), a clan of mountain bandits of the Tochik cultural group whose members garbed themselves in wolf furs, and whose Patriarch, who was just referred to as Rahbari Shtavm (Boss Fang), was a complete cad willing to sacrifice his own children just to save himself. The clan met their end at the hands of Baki and the Omnod Shuvuu Nudarga practitioners, who went after them because Irinchibal's sister, Jaliqai, and Dagasi had been kidnapped by the clan, and they showed no mercy, even mocking the cowardice of some of the clan as they killed them. Then, there was the Ulaan Nokhod (Red Dogs), a gang led by a man who just called himself "Jackal", who were roaming the west of Humania in search of a new hideout. Khasar and the Baruun Gereltsen Nudarga practitioners hunted them down after Jackal killed an old lady who ran an orphanage, and slew them all, despite Jackal himself fighting very dirty with deadly black powder bombs, and even releasing a giant to fight them. Finally, there was the Tengeriin Ord (Heaven's Horde), a fanatical group led by former army commanders who had defected from the Korchin tribe. Ile and the Dornod Unetchuluu Nudarga practitioners began pursuing them after they razed a herding village to the ground for no apparent reason, and despite the unusual discipline and bravery of the Tengeriin Ord members, the fanatics all got slaughtered in penalty of their crime.

After this, the three teams met up, only to get reports that, in the north, a new, large gang was terrorizing the North anew. This gang, known as the "Khozor Tonog" (Card Gang) because the four lieutenants of the gang were all named after cards in a card game, was lead by none other than Ariq, who had been left to his own devices while his brothers had gone to the other parts of Humania. Saying goodbye to their newfound allies for the time, Baki, Khasar, and Ile went back to their home north to confront this new threat. The four lieutenants in question who were named after cards were Khurz (Spade), Almaz (Diamond), Borookhoi (Club), and Zurkh (Heart).

Khurz was the first of the four lieutenants to be fought, and he was a dirty coward whose strength wasn't more than that of the average thug, so he relied on weapons like a wrist-mounted crossbow, axes, and a spear to fight. Both of his attempts to fight the three Khoid Luu brothers ended miserably for him. In Khurz's first attempt, he got his right eye taken out when he attempted to shoot Baki with two crossbow bolts. Baki effortlessly dodged the first by just moving his head, and then, displaying the Khoid Khoyor Khuruu Sum Barikh (Northern Two-Finger Arrow Catch) technique, caught the second one with just his pointer and middle finger, and casually returned it to sender with painful results. And in Khurz's second attempt, where he used his axes and spear, Khasar broke both of the thug's arms with his typical skill and strength, and then killed Khurz with a move called the Khoid Gemshsen Nudarga (Northern Repentance Fist), in which Khasar stuck his thumbs in the thug's temples, and then, ten seconds after the Khoid Luu Nudarga master retracted his thumbs from the thug's head, Khurz exploded into a fiery red mess.

Then, the brothers faced Almaz, an overconfident thug who wielded a double-edged spear with a staff-like handle that itself could kill. The Khoid Luu brothers caught him and his minions trying to force a man to shoot a hat off his son. After getting the father and son to safety, the three Khoid Luu brothers watched the impulsive thug kill his own men to display how deadly his spear was. Then, he attempted to attack the three brothers, only for Ile to catch his spear, lift it into the air with him still holding on to it, and toss both into the air. and then Baki and Khasar jumped upwards and went for Almaz's face and neck respectively, pulling off both parts of the Khuzuu Mushgikh Nuur Zorchikh Nudarga (Neck-Twisting, Face Breaking Fist) technique. When Baki, Khasar, and Almaz all landed, with the former two landing gracefully on their feet, and Almaz landing belly down. Even after all of this, Almaz was still ready for another go, but after he got up, he was informed by all three brothers that he was already dead. Then, Almaz's neck suddenly broke itself, and his face split open in two pieces with flames shooting out of it.

Next, Borookhoi, who was a cowardly yet sadistic man who trained by slaughtering defenseless herders with steel claws, was faced. Borookhoi was in the middle of his usual sociopathic antics with another village's inhabitants when suddenly, much to his surprise, Baki was his next "opponent". Borookhoi tried killing him anyways, but Baki easily dodged his claws, and then, when Borookhoi tried to jump at him, Baki, in response, jumped up and struck Borookhoi's hands with his fingers, as part of the Tavan Khuruu Tesrekh Delberelt (Explosive Five Fingers) technique, causing Borookhoi's fingers to explode. Then, Baki got behind Borookhoi and kneed the thug in the lower back, hitting a pressure point called Amidralyn Khaalga (Door of Life). Thirty seconds after Baki did this, and with Borookhoi ironically begging for his life the whole time, the thug's own back muscles snapped his spine, killing him.

Finally, there was Zurkh, who was a giant of a man who towered over even Ile, and very fat to boot, with that fat preventing the pressing of pressure points, a vital part of Khoid Luu Nudarga. Because of Zurkh's size, Ile decided to face him. Initially, when Ile tried attacking him, his fist instead got stuck in the fat, and he was only barely able to withdraw it and dodge Zurkh trying to clothesline-punch him. However, after Zurkh mocked his fist, Ile then rightfully claimed that "Khoid Luu Nudarga is invincible!", and proceeded to kick right through Zurkh's fat with a rapid-kicking technique called the Khoid Zoolon Zorchikh Tairakh (Northern Softness Breaking Slash), and then, with a flame-wreathed finger, hit Zurkh's exposed pressure point. After retracting his arm, Ile informed the giant about the pressure point, and that he was already dead. A few seconds later, after Ile backed up a few meters, Zurkh exploded in a messy and fiery manner.

After defeating and slaying the four lieutenants, Baki, Khasar, and Ile came across what had been Ariq's lair, only to discover that Ariq had fled like the coward he was. Hoping that he wouldn't be seen again, the three remaining Khoid Luu brothers went south to the Center of Humania, in the city of Kharkhot, one of Humania's few permanent large settlements. There, they would hold a Great Khural, or national tribal assembly, and they and the other practitioners of the Tusgai Tulaany Urlag would choose who would be Khan of the North, Khan of the South, Khan of the East, and Khan of the West, and who would be Khagan, or, to put it simply, Khan over the Khans.

When the three brothers got to the city, they found that all of the practitioners of Omnod Shuvuu Nudarga, Baruun Gereltsen Nudarga, and Dornod Unetchuluu Nudarga had already arrive, ready to take part in the assembly that would bring Humania back to its former glory.

This Great Khural was to last 10 days, with the first five days dedicated to electing minor officials in the North, South, East, West, and Central Governments, the next four days dedicated to electing the Khans of the North, South, East, and West respectively, and then the final day being the day that question of who would be Khagan would be decided. The first five days passed with little worry, as those were just the minor officials being elected. On the sixth day, despite having the backing of Ogodei, Jamukha, Bayan, and the entire Mongol Tribe for Khagan, Khasar instead decided to become Khan of the North, the territory of the Oirats, the Kalimags, the Tyvans, the Altai, the Chulyms, the Shors, the Kazars, the Tofas, the Khakas, the Sibes, and the Dulgans. On the seventh day, much to his celebration, Kublai was elected Khan of the South, the territory of the Tsahars, the Ujghurs, the Qazaqs, the Kirgiz, the Turkmens, the Karakalpaks, the Tochiks, and the Sogds. On the eighth day, Temuge was elected the Khan of the East, the territory of the Korchins, the Yugurs, the Yakuts, the Fuyu-Girgis, the Buryats, the Evenkis, the Nanais, and the Manjus. And on the ninth day, Ogodei was elected the Khan of the west, the territory of the Mongols, the Tatars, the Bashkirs, the Nogais, the Sakas, the Skoloti, the Issedones, the Gelones, the Budines, the Siraces, the Amaxobes, the Roxolans, the Iazyges, the Taifals, the Alans, the Ossetes, the Kushans, the Kidars, the Jyons, the Alchons, the Nezaks, the Tochars, and the Khotans.

Now came the day that the Khagan would be elected.

Baki walked around the large yurt to the area in front of the entrance, facing the large, cheering crowd of perhaps several thousand people. He knew just how glad they were to finally enter an era of peace, security, and safety after so many years of oppression by bandits, as he was excited for that same thing too. Even the soldiers who were standing guard nearby were grinning in anticipation. Then, Baki raised his arm to silence the crowd. Once they were quiet, and despite his own nervousness, he began to speak.

"Men and women of the Great Steppes of Humania, I have an announcement to make!" Baki spoke loudly enough for all in the crowd to hear him. "Today is the day we've all been waiting for: the day we present our new Khagan!"

Another round of cheering went up from the crowd. They clearly could not wait to see who their Khagan would be.

"Alright, alright, now then!" Baki got the crowd's attention. Once he had their attention, he continued. "Now then, as for who your new Khagan will be, it's not me. I was considered for the position, but I declined it, as though I am a great warrior myself, the administrative side of running a nation is not for me. Instead, I vouched for my older brother to become Khagan."

And then, he opened the flap of the yurt behind him, and out came Ile, who was clearly drinking it all in.

"So then, meet your new Khagan!" Baki loudly introduced his older brother to the crowd. "ILE OF THE NORTH!"

Ile then thrust his right arm into the air with a loud "ORA!", and in response, practically everyone in the crowd mirrored his action and did an "ORA!" of their own.

"ORA!"

So, the day after the last day of the Great Khural, after bidding farewell to their older brother, Baki and Khasar began their journey back North to their part of Humania, where Khasar was now Khan and needed to run the place. Because of the distance, it took a few weeks to get there on horseback.

However, the night after Baki and Khasar got back to their homeland in the North, it suddenly turned into day, as the Moon was replaced with the ever-bright Sun. Just a few hours later, the sun suddenly set, and the moon was back up again. This was certainly very odd and out of the blue, as there was no way that the night would suddenly turn day like that, unless there was something going on in the distant country that was apparently called "Equestria". Knowing that this was serious, Baki decided that he would go to this country of "Equestria" in order to figure out what had happened.

The journey to the borders of Griffinstone, the neighboring country to the west, took about three weeks, and then the time it took for him to get to the train station was another week. Currency was a foreign thing in Humania, so Baki didn't have any money. Luckily, though, a friendly Griffon noble, who thought himself to have too much money and not enough to spend it on, loaned enough to him so that he could get on a train to Equestria, and the loan was interest free, as well.

The train trip lasted at least a whole day, and Baki ended up falling asleep along the way. When he next woke up, he found that the train he was on was pulling into a town that...did not look like the capital city. It instead looked like one of the towns in his old homeland, in terms of how out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere it looked, what with it being in the middle of a dusty plain. As he walked off the platform, he noticed that all of the town's residents who were near him were staring at him out from under those sun-blocking hats.

"What are you all looking at?" Baki asked them loudly. "Go on with your daily lives. I'm just another human."

The ponies seemed to look at each other for a few seconds before they obliged, and reluctantly went on with their daily lives, as Baki asked them to.

With that out of the way, Baki then walked around town. A few more ponies stared at him as he went by, but ultimately went back to their business, as they could see the lack of malice in his eyes, so he wasn't some monster.

Eventually, he stopped at a post near a building, leaning back against it. Beside him, he saw a yellow pony with an orange mane, a brown hat, and brown vest, and with the design of an apple on his fur on both sides of the area at the top of each of his back legs. Since he seemed a little knowledgeable, Baki decided to ask this guy a random question.

"So, you there," Baki got the pony's attention, "do you know the name of this town?"

"Place o' this town?" The pony turned his attention to the young adult human, speaking with a country accent. Then, though, he suddenly raised his voice, which managed to startle Baki. "Ah yeah, this town is called AAAAAAPPLE-LOOSA!"

Baki almost lost his balance and fell at the pony shouting this and then rearing up and whinnying to punctuate it. He was able to stabilize himself against the post, and stood up straight again.

"So, uh...it's...Appleloosa...did I get that right?" Baki asked the pony for confirmation.

"Yep, AAAAAAPLE-LOOSA, alright!" The pony exuberantly confirmed. "Ya seem new around here!"

"Indeed, I am." Baki replied. "In fact, this is my first time in Equestria."

"Well then, hope ya get a good first impression!" The pony responded. Then, he decided to introduce himself. "Mah name's Braeburn! Nice ta meet'cha!"

"Name's Baki." Baki introduced himself in kind. "Yes, that's my name. It might sound strange, but that's my name."

"Huh, can't say ah disagree with ya, partner." Braeburn remarked. "Nev'r heard o' that one before." Then, though, he seemed to remember that Baki wasn't from Equestria. "So where ya from?"

"I'm from Humania." Baki answered honestly.

"Humania? Alright then-" Braeburn was about to accept Baki's answer when he suddenly seemed to do a double take. "Wait a second, ah though that didn't exist as a country anymore!"

"Well it does again now." Baki replied. "Humania's got a new Khagan, or king, in your words."

"And who's this new king?" Braeburn asked.

"His name's Ile." Baki answered once again. "By the way, he's my older brother."

"Alrighty then-wait, he's yer older brother?!" Braeburn did another double take at the news that Baki's older brother was Khagan, and that Baki was basically royalty. "Er...should ah bow to ya, mister?"

"No." Baki bluntly told him. "Even human royals don't go around demanding all of his subjects to bow to him, let alone citizens of other countries. I in particular would rather you talk to me as an equal."

"Erm...uh...yes sir." Braeburn awkwardly accepted. "So, uh, ya want me to show ya around town?"

"No thanks." Baki turned down. "The reason why I'm here in Equestria is because I need to do something in the capital city. You know where the capital is?"

"The capital? Oh wait, ya mean Canterlot?"

"Is that the name of the capital?" Baki asked.

"Yeah, it's our capital city, alright." Braeburn answered.

"Do you know where it is?"

"It's on the other side of that forest to the North." Braeburn pointed in the direction of a faintly visible treeline. "Careful though, that forest is called the "Everfree Forest", and it's pretty dangerous."

"Forest, eh? I've traveled through one of those without a problem." Baki responded. "I'm sure I can do the same with that one over there."

"Alright then, take care." Braeburn warned him. "If ya get badly hurt in there, don't say ah didn't warn ya."

So with that, Baki left the town of Appleloosa and set off towards the forest.

"That forest shouldn't be much of an issue." Baki thought once he was out of sight of the town behind him. "I've faced wild beasts before. If those are what's in that forest, then I should still be able to go through without a problem."

At least he hoped so, anyways.

About six or seven hours later...

"So, have you heard that there's a new khanate in Humania?"

"New khanate? Darling, I thought that the khanate in Humania fell a hundred years ago."

Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy were all on a walk of sorts outside of Ponyville, discussing the arisal of a new khanate in the realm of Humania.

"No, Rarity, I'm talking about the new khanate." Twilight clarified. "There's a new one in Humania. It was founded by this human named "Ile". He and his brothers and his allies defeated all the gangs of bandits that were roaming Humania."

"Wait..." Rainbow Dash asked, wondering how Twilight knew all of this stuff, "where DID you hear about that anyways?"

"Celestia herself told me about it a few days before I went to Ponyville." Twilight answered, much to the surprise of the others, which she noticed. "I know it sounds strange that she'd tell me about it, but I think her...um...relationship with Temujin, the human who founded the original khanate, probably had something to do with it."

"What kind of relationship?"

"Uhh...um..." Twilight tried to think of how to answer it before settling with: "Uh...I'll tell you about it later at some point."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything else, and the girls all walked on.

Then, though, Applejack began talk to Twilight.

"Ya know, Twilight," Applejack began to say, "ah'm a little suspicious about some of these...abilities...that them there humans supposedly have."

"Like what?"

"Ya know, like shootin' fire from their arms, splittin' mountains in two, and cuttin' through steel." Applejack responded to Twilight. "Pardon me if it's cuz ah've never met one before, but it sounds like a bunch o' hooey to me."

"Well, maybe it is because you haven't seen one before." Twilight replied. "Who knows? Perhaps we might meet one with those abilities, and then your doubts will be gone."

"That's the thing, Twilight: ah doubt we'll ever MEET one." Applejack told Twilight. "Why'd a human give himself the trouble of going through Griffon or Dragon lands, going across the sea, and then traveling across half of Equestria to come HERE?"

But little did Applejack know that she was about to be proven wrong, and little did any of the ponies know that they would meet a human that very day.

Baki marched on through the forest, still maintaining his sense of direction, and physically unharmed so far, albeit shirtless from one of his encounters with the local wildlife. Much to his exasperation, it seemed like EVERYTHING in the forest was trying to attack him. Bees with electrifying stings, wolves made of wood, lion-scorpion things, giant four-headed reptiles, red-eyed creatures with dragon bodies and chicken heads, even the trees themselves! Of course, none of them had actually managed to harm him, at least not yet anyways, though one of the wooden wolves had managed to tear off his shirt. Even then, every single creature that had tried to attack him had been either thunderously sliced apart by the moves of Omnod Shuvuu Nudarga that Baki had learned from being with the masters of that art for a year, or incinerated by blasts of fire or blown up from being hit in certain pressure points on their body, both by Baki's native Khoid Luu Nudarga.

And now, at last, the end of the forest was in sight, for he could see an open field on the other side of some trees, and he could just faintly see the outline of a group of buildings in the distance. As long as nothing else tried to attack him, he'd be fine.

But of course, that wouldn't happen, as Baki heard a loud growl that sounded like it was coming from something big, and when he turned to his right, he saw a very large bear-like creature with star markings on it snarling at him.

"Good grief...not again." Baki grumbled as he realized that he'd still have to deal with one more creature before being able to leave with the forest.

Then, the bear's growling turned into a roar, and he lunged with his claw at Baki. Baki dodged by jumping high up and backwards, and then, gliding back forwards, swooped down and, with a loud "SHAO", made a sizable cross-shaped slash wound on the bear's shoulder with a move of Omnod Galtshuvuu Nudarga that Kublai had taught and showed him, which elicited a pained roar from the bear.

Tuil Oddyn Zagalmai Nudarga! (Pole Star Cross Fist!)

Baki landed on his feet, with a bit of a skid, behind the bear, who turned around, snarling at him again. This was going to take a little longer than the other creatures for sure.

Suddenly, the girls' walk was interrupted when they all heard loud growling coming from the nearby forest. This growling sounded like it was coming from something BIG, otherwise they wouldn't have heard it. But as they were contemplating backing away from all this, they jumped as they suddenly heard a loud roar, followed by the sound of a tree getting knocked over.

"W-What was that?" Fluttershy asked nervously.

"I don't know, but it sounds big!" Twilight answered, trying to figure out what it was. "It sounds different from a Manticore, though."

Then, though, they heard a noticeable, high-pitched "SHAAAAAOOOOO!", which sounded very eerie, and unlike anything that they had ever heard before. It was then followed by another roar, this one of pain, by the creature that was roaring earlier.

"And what was THAT?" Rainbow Dash then asked, mirroring Fluttershy, but with a very different tone.

"Okay, now that sounds like something that I've never heard before." Twilight accordingly answered differently. Then, she noted the proximity in time of the two sounds. "It sounds like two creatures are fighting each other. I think we should go and see what kinds of creatures they are!"

"Uh, Twilight, do ya REALLY think that's a good idea?!" Applejack asked the unicorn, alarmed. "Ya do realize that those creatures could be really dangerous if we can hear them from this far away, right?"

"That's the point!" Twilight replied to the earth pony. "We need to find out what kinds of creatures they are so that, in case we ever run into one of them again, we'll know how to deal with them!"

"Hmm, I like your logic, darling." Rarity agreed. "It's risky, but I suppose that if well have to do it, then I will gladly go along with it." Then, she turned to the other four, two of whom were still contemplating if it was a good idea. "Come on, now!"

"Okie dokie lokie!"

"Right on it!"

"Alrighty then, sugarcube."

"...if you say so."

And so with that, all six ponies dashed off towards the forest, determined to find out whether the creatures, whatever they were, were a threat to not just them, but also the nearby town of Ponyville, and to find out a way to deal with them if they were.

As they got closer, the roars got louder, as did the cries of "SHAAAAAOOOOO!". Eventually, they could see the silhouette of a large red object, which they assumed to be one of the creatures, behind the trees. The size of the creature made them stop dead in their tracks.

"What's that?" Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight for an answer.

"Uhh..." Twilight tried to think up of what it was before she saw the star-like markings on the creature. "I...I think it's an Ursa-"

But Twilight was interrupted when the creature that had been going "SHAAAAAOOOOO!" earlier suddenly elicited a very different noise.

"ATATATATATATATATATATATATATA! WATAA!"

Before anyone of the ponies could question what this noise was, the large red star-marked creature was suddenly launched backwards hard enough that it was sent flying through the trees and out into the open field, knocking down part of the treeline in the process. When she took a good look at the creature, Twilight saw just what the creature was.

"That's...that's a juvenile Ursa Major!" Twilight internally gasped in realization. "But who or what could have sent it flying like that?"

Then, though, Rainbow Dash saw something at where the Ursa Major had been launched like that. "Everypony, look!"

Everyone of the ponies looked in the direction where Rainbow Dash was looking, and they saw a small, bipedal creature vaulting over one of the fallen trees. From a distance, the creature appeared to have a dark patch at the top of his head, presumably hair, and appeared to be wearing pants, but no shirt.

"Wait a minute..." Twilight asked herself as she looked at the creature, "is that a human?"

But then, the small creature turned to look at the six ponies, and actually spoke, confirming Twilight's guess.

"HEY YOU!" Baki loudly demanded of the six ponies who had gathered to watch. "WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING HERE COMING TO WATCH THIS WHOLE THING?! DON'T YOU REALIZE THAT THAT GUY OVER THERE IS GONNA TRY AND ATTACK YOU?"

"What do you mean?" Baki heard one of them ask him what he meant.

Then, the large bear, seeing the ponies, decided to start attacking them instead.

"LIKE THAT!" Baki responded to the pony that was asking why he wanted them gone. He knew that if he wanted to save these ponies, he had to act fast.

So Baki dashed forward at a speed that only masters of one of the Tusgai Tulaany Arlag could dash at, which was about five times as fast as a speeding horse. Then, he did a diving kick into the bear's shoulder, which, combined with the momentum, sent the bear skidding back.

He then followed that up with an uppercut to the bear's jaw.

"ATA!"

Then another.

"WATA!"

And then he finished with a fiery and destructive rush attack that was a signature move of Khoid Luu Nudarga.

"ATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA! WATAAAAA!"

And with one last flaming punch, Baki sent the bear flying backwards a good forty meters back, and then the bear bounced along the ground for another ten meters or so.

Khoid Zuun Khagarakh Nudarga! (Northern Hundred Rending Fists!)

Once that was done and over with, Baki then turned around and walked towards the ponies, who were evidently shocked at what they had just seen.

The six ponies just stood there, jaws dropped, not knowing what just happened. Even Pinkie Pie was trying to figure out how in the world a creature that size had sent an Ursa Major flying backwards like that.

"How...how did he...WHAT?" Twilight sputtered out, trying to process how something small could hit something so hard, so fast, and so rapidly.

Then, though, the ponies noticed the human coming towards them. He seemed quite exasperated.

"I thought I told you ponies that this wasn't just some spectator sport." The human told them as he walked up to them. "You do realize what danger you put yourselves in there, do you?"

"Oh, uh, sorry about that." Twilight hastily apologized. "We were just...we heard these strange new sounds and we didn't know what creatures they were coming from, and we wanted to figure out whether they were a threat or not."

"Hmm...alright, I can agree with the logic behind that, I suppose." The human accepted. "But next time, try something called "observing from afar". It helps a lot when dealing with creatures like that guy."

"Umm...of course." Twilight agreed to the human's suggestion. But then, she looked behind the human, and saw to her horror that the Ursa Major was getting up, ready to attack! "Mr. Human, look out! The Ursa Major...it's...it's...!"

"Oh, him?" The human asked in response. "Don't mind him. He's already dead."

"Already dead? What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash tilted her head at the human. But then, she and the others saw the Ursa Major then stop with a pained expression, clutching its head. Then, its head and part of its chest started to swell up, and rapidly! "Wait a second, what's his head doing?!"

"Oh, and I advise that you all cover your eyes." The human warned them. "This is going to get messy very quickly."

The girls did what he told them, not wanting to see what happened next. They were soon very glad that they did this, for they could hear the sound of something bursting and exploding, and then they heard it again.

When the ponies opened their eyes again, they could see what was left of the Ursa Major. It was missing its head and a good portion of its chest, and its remains were also on FIRE.

"What in tarnation..." Applejack stared at the Ursa Major's remains. "What the hay just happened?"

"My attack caused his head to burst like an overfilled sack, and the same thing happened with the left side of his chest." The human answered in a manner of bluntness one would usually expect from someone like Rainbow Dash, or, ironically, Applejack. "And it also set his remains on fire, of course."

All of the ponies seemed more than a little disgusted at this...except for Pinkie Pie, who was going off on one of her random assumptions on things.

"Heywaitwaitwaitisthisliketheguywhotapspeopleintheforeheadandtellsthemomaewamoushin-" Pinkie Pie manage to rapidly blab out before Rarity silenced her by putting a hoof in her mouth.

"Er...what was that about?" The human asked, confused by Pinkie Pie's tangent attempt.

"Pardon me, but you might want to ignore her right now." Rarity told the human. "Now then, could you kindly explain how you...caused the Ursa Major to burst like that?"

"Ah, yes, I was going to get to that point." The human pointed out. Then, he explained how he did it. "Now you see, in case you didn't know, I am a human, and I am one of a very small group of humans with the ability to manipulate certain points on the body that you can simply refer to as "pressure points". They exist on any tangible living being, and each one has a different effect, both helpful or harmful." He then pointed at the remains of the Ursa Major. "I struck a great deal of the harmful ones on the head, chest, and shoulder of that...Ursa Major...as you call it, and that's why he exploded like that."

"But...but...but...why did you kill him like that...that was so cruel..." Fluttershy gave the human the puppy dog eyes at the fact that he had killed an Ursa Major. However, instead of being coerced into agreeing that it was cruel and apologizing, he sighed with the kind of expression that he saw that coming a mile away.

"No it wasn't." The human countered her. "Messy, yes, but it's not like that thing didn't have it coming. You see, the reason why I was fighting it in the first place was because...I don't know why he tried to attack me, maybe he was extremely territorial, maybe he was very hungry, or maybe it was just for the heck of it, but whatever the reason, he tried to kill me, and I was forced to defend myself. At first, I wasn't actually intending to kill him, but instead was just trying to drive him off. But then he decided to try attack you ponies, and I had little choice but to kill him. I doubt that he could have actually been reasoned with, being that he's a non-sapient creature and all, and I obviously can't talk to animals."

"Oh...Okay..." Fluttershy now understood. "So you did it because you had to, not because you wanted to. But why were you so quick to jump to that?"

"Because the thought of an enemy killing an innocent is something I cannot bear." The human answered. "For me, at least, innocent bystanders getting killed by my enemies in the middle of a fight is something that has happened far too often in the pass, and I didn't want it to happen again."

At this, all six of the ponies, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy, saw that, despite the human's intimidating appearance, and his messy killing of the Ursa Major, he had a heart in him, a large one, and Applejack couldn't sense a lie coming from him, which meant that it was all genuine.

"Now then, with all that out of the way, I suppose it's time to introduce myself and explain why I'm here." The human decided. "My name is Baki. I know it's odd for a name to you, but that's my name. I am the younger brother of Ile, the new Khagan and therefore ruler of Humania."

"Wait...so you're basically royalty?" Twilight asked in surprise.

"Yes, I am." Baki, as he was now known as, answered honestly. "The reason why I came here was to investigate a strange incident back in my native Humania, where, during the middle of the night, the sun suddenly rose, and stayed like that for about three hours before setting again. Seeing as how your ruler raises both the sun and the moon, I assumed that I could figure out what was going on if I came here."

"Hmm...oh, you're talking about the whole thing with Nightmare Moon, aren't you?" Twilight asked the human.

"Incident with...Nightmare...Moon?" Baki looked confused. "Wait, what?"

"It's something that happened over here in Equestria that might explained what happened to you over in Humania." Twilight told him. "Why don't we discuss it on the way back to the town that we live in?"

"...alright then." Baki accepted. "I need a place to stay anyways."

So Baki decided to go with these ponies back to their town. Along the way, they told him about how, about a month ago, after a little over a thousand years, a being called Nightmare Moon returned from being exiled to the moon for that period of time, and declared her intentions for causing eternal night over all of Equestria. Twilight Sparkle, as the purple unicorn with the dark blue mane was named, had been sent to the town, known as "Ponyville," with the orders by Celestia, Equestria's ruler and Twilight's personal teacher, to, believe it or not, make friends. Though Twilight initially thought that this would be unnecessary, and that dealing with Nightmare Moon would be more important, it turned out that making friends was crucial to defeating Nightmare Moon. So Twilight ended up making five friends that day. These friends, who turned out to be the other five ponies that were with him right now, were Applejack, the orange earth pony (as wingless, hornless ponies were called) with the yellow mane and brown hat, Pinkie Pie, the pink earth pony with the frizzy, darker pink mane, Rainbow Dash, the light blue pegasus with the multi-colored mane, Rarity, the white unicorn with the purple mane, and, finally, Fluttershy, the yellow pegasus with the light pink mane. Together, the six ponies became the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony, powerful items that allowed them to defeat Nightmare Moon, thus bringing the day back to Equestria. It turned out that Nightmare Moon was actually a possessed Luna, who was Celestia's long-lost younger sister, and when Celestia caught up with the six ponies, she had quite the reunion with her younger sibling.

Though many among his fellow humans would laugh and sneer at the thought of someone using things like magic, honesty, laughter, loyalty, generosity, and kindness to defeat an enemy, Baki...Baki was more than impressed.

"...I am so jealous right now..." Baki admitted to the ponies.

"Jealous? What do you mean?" The ever-innocent Pinkie Pie asked the large human.

"You...you six managed to defeat such a powerful, dangerous enemy...just by using your best attributes...and you got an outcome good for everyone, even that enemy." Baki answered, admiring how just using the best parts of their personality allowed these little ponies to defeat an enemy that could have killed them all, and turn that enemy normal again.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what we did." Rainbow Dash confirmed. "And what about that do you not get?"

"It's not that I don't get it." Baki corrected her. Then, though, he looked down, his right hand balling up into a fist. "It's that, back in my homeland, every single battle I fought with bandits was quite bloody...and all resulted in the lives of my fellow human beings...innocent or not...being lost in great numbers."

But then he looked back up at the ponies, having an exceptionally rare, if small, smile on his face. "To finally meet someone who can defeat an enemy like that without killing them is like living in the desert for your whole life and then at last finding an oasis that isn't a mirage. It may sound like an exaggeration, but coming out of a land where showing little to no mercy is mandatory to survive, you ponies are like jewels so rare that they're only found once in a hundred years."

All of the ponies seemed to be flattered by this, even the ones who were likely tougher to show the truth most of the time.

"Oh...erm...thanks, sugarcube." Applejack blushed at Baki's compliment. "Never heard anyone tell us that before."

"Yeah, uh, we were just, uh...doing what we needed to do." Twilight awkwardly added.

Then, though, Baki faced towards the town that they were going to. "So this is that "Ponyville" place that you were talking about? It's certainly larger than any of the tent villages that my kin usually set up."

"Yep, this is the place!" Rainbow Dash eagerly confirmed for him. "It's where we all live, though Twilight's a newcomer. I bet you'll like your stay here!"

"Maybe." Baki accepted the possibility. But he had one important question for them. "However, I have this for you to answer: has anyone in the town ever met a human for real?"

The ponies went silent at this, but shook their heads.

"Well then...that's going to be a bit of a problem." Baki told the ponies. "We don't want some over-curious or over-paranoid locals going mad over my arrival, don't we?"

"Umm...no...?" Twilight nervously responded, having not thought that through earlier. But then, though... "Wait wait, don't run into that!"

Confused, Baki stopped in his tracks, wondering what Twilight was freaking out about. Then, though, he looked around, and he saw that, right in front of him, was a wooden board attacked to two wooden post. There were some...strange markings on it that he hadn't ever seen before.

"Wait...what's this?" He asked the ponies. "And what are the purposes of these markings?"

"That's the welcome sign, silly!" Pinkie Pie answered to him in her usual cheerful manner. "It says "Welcome to Ponyville"!"

"Welcome...sign?" Baki eyed the pink pony, not knowing what she was talking about. "Is it supposed to talk?"

There was a brief silence from the ponies, as if they had just seen the stupidest and most ridiculous scene in their lives, before they all told him "No.".

"Then...what do you mean by "it says this" or "it says that"?"

"Darling, do you even know how to read and write?" Rarity asked the confused human.

"What do you mean by "reeding and righting"?" Baki asked back. "Do you mean repairing objects with reeds and keeping objects from falling over? If that's what you mean, I can do both-"

"No, what I mean...what I mean..." Rarity tried to correct him before giving up, sinking her face to the ground. "...I don't even...ugh..."

But then, Twilight seemed to have a sudden outburst as she gripped the size of her head with her forehooves. "OH DEAR CELESTIA! I should have known that you'd be illiterate!"

"Il-lit-er-ate?" Baki tilted his head as she looker at her. "What does that mean?"

"Erm...uh..." Twilight tried to divert Baki's attention. "Let's just focus on showing you around town, okay?"

"...alright then." Baki accepted, still confused.

So, Baki continued following the ponies to the town, which wasn't very far away now.

Twilight and her friends ended up taking Baki on a tour of Ponyville for...about 15 minutes. During that time, they introduced him to the various citizens of the town (who, luckily, were more curious towards Baki then they were afraid of him), showed him the various locations of the town, and explained some of the town's traditions (something that Twilight, being a newcomer, had to leave to her friends). After the tour was over, Pinkie Pie expressed her desire to throw Baki a welcome party, but after being told exactly what that sort of thing was by Twilight, Baki warned Pinkie that it couldn't be a "surprise party", since, due to his experiences with the roaming bandits of Humania, and the fact that he trained himself to deal with enemy ambushes, any surprises or startling incidents usually resulted in a violent reaction, so an attempt at a surprise party could result in (as Twilight put it) numerous ponies being sent to the hospital or worse, which was something that Baki did NOT want to happen. Even with her bubbly demeanor, Pinkie actually took the warning seriously, making a "Pinkie Promise" to tone down the party so that it wouldn't really be a "surprise party", as she understood that safety was better than fun.

So, now, Twilight and Baki were heading back to the former's library of a house so that Twilight could inform her mentor, Celestia, of Baki's arrival in the town. Meanwhile, Rarity was off at her house making a new shirt for Baki, since, as Rarity pointed out (and Baki agreed with), humans usually wore shirts, and going shirtless all the time would make others think that he was either uncivilized, poor and desperate, or a freak, not to mention that it would be dangerous in cold weather to go without a shirt. As for the others, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy were in another part of town for a very obvious reason.

Twilight and Baki came to the door of her house, where she opened it and the two went inside. There, at the nearest bookshelf to them, on a wheeled step ladder, was Spike, Twilight's faithful little dragon assistant. At the moment, he was trying to shelve some books.

"SPIKE, I'M HOME!" Twilight called out to him in an unnecessarily loud tone.

This startled Spike so badly that he lost his footing and, along with the books, fell off the ladder. But then, faster than Twilight OR Spike could see him move, Baki dashed over and caught Spike mid-fall with one arm, and shielded him from the falling books with the other.

"That...that's fast." Twilight quietly gasped.

"You alright there?" Baki asked the little dragon as he set him down on the floor.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Spike answered. "This thing happens a lot to me, don't worry. Thanks for catching me, though-"

Spike's voice trailed off when he saw what he was looking up at. "Wait wait wait, WHAT? Are you a human?"

"Yes, I'm a human." Baki bluntly told him. "Before you ask, I'm a newcomer."

"That's right." Twilight confirmed. "He's the younger brother of the new leader of Humania, and he came here from that country after an event over there involving the sun and moon, and yes, it happened at the same time as the whole Nightmare Moon deal, and he came here to figure out what happened. We've already explained to him what happened, but since he's here so far away from his homeland, he needs somewhere to stay, so I decided that he could stay here."

"...okay then." Spike didn't argue with Twilight's decision. Then, though, he pointed something out. "Though, since he's basically foreign royalty, and he's probably the first human to come to Equestria in a long time, don't you think we should let Celestia know?"

"Oh wait, that's right, I was gonna do that!" Twilight remembered. "Alright then, Spike, get a letter."

So Spike got out a quill, some ink, and a parchment, and Twilight had him write this to Celestia:

Dear Princess Celestia,

Quite an event has happened here in Ponyville today. About half an hour ago, when my friends and I were taking a walk near the Everfree Forest, we heard these strange noises coming from the forest, which sounded like at least two creatures fighting each other, and we went to see which ones so that we'd know how to deal with them. We found that one of the creatures was a juvenile Ursa Major, and the other was, believe it or not, a human. Despite the Ursa Major's great size advantage, the human won, defeating the Ursa Major in a messy way when the giant creature attacked us.

The human introduced himself as Baki, the younger brother of the new ruler of Humania, which means that he's royalty back in this realm. He came here to investigate an event back in Humania where, in the middle of the night, the sun suddenly rose, and then, a few hours later, the moon was back up again. While he was coming with us back to Ponyville, we told him about the incident with Luna's return and her attempt to plunge Equestria into eternal night, and since Humania is on the other side of the world, that explains why the sun rose suddenly in the middle of the night over there. And then my friends and I defeating Luna, who was Nightmare Moon at the time, with the Elements of Harmony, turning her back to normal, and you raising the sun over Equestria again explains why the Moon then went back up in Humania.

I know it may or may not seem odd for me to write a letter to you about such a thing, but Baki is, as I mentioned earlier, human royalty, and judging by the way that he struck down the Ursa Major, he also seems to practice a certain fighting art involving fire, pressure points, and enemies bursting like balloons.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.

With this, a somewhat wide-eyed Spike, sure that he had spelled Baki's name right, sent the letter by engulfing it in his green fire breath, which confused Baki, to which Twilight responded by quickly explaining to him "This is how Spike and I send messages.".

"...very well." Baki understood her. "Odd way of sending messages, though."

Before Twilight could respond to that, Spike then interrupted. "So, wait, did you REALLY take down that Ursa Major?"

"Yes, I did." Baki confirmed to him. "It was rather hard and tedious, but I won against him."

"Well, if it involved "fire" and "pressure points", aren't you one of those humans who uses-" Before Spike could finish his question, he suddenly belched out more flames, which seemed to startle Baki a little bit, before these flames took the form of another letter. "Oh, wait, I think Celestia's made her response already."

So Spike read the letter out loud to Twilight and Baki. It was brief, but it let them know what they needed to know:

My faithful student,

Thank you for informing me about this important event. I shall be arriving in Ponyville soon to meet this human newcomer.

Signed, Princess Celestia.

At this, Twilight gasped in alarm. "The princess is coming?! OH NO! OH NONONONONO! I haven't even began cleaning the place up yet!"

But then Spike read the second part of the letter.

PS: Don't go into a panic and try to clean everything up before I get there. Please, save yourself the trouble.

Spike couldn't help but chuckle at Twilight as the unicorn stared at the letter in complete and utter confusion. He just found it amusing that, even though Twilight was Celestia's most prized student and protege, her borderline-OCD behavior (or did she really have OCD?) made it sound like Celestia was a tyrannical ruler with a short temper, when, in reality, was a relaxed and casual, if elegant, pony who found the idea of her subjects worshipping her like a god off-putting. Meanwhile, Baki just looked like he was trying to figure out what in Tartarus was going on.

Just as Twilight was about to speak again, the door to the library opened, revealing Celestia in all of her glory. Spike bowed reflexively, and Twilight ran over to her mentor, hugging her leg. "Princess Celestia! It's good to see you again!"

"You as well, my faithful student." Celestia greeted back warmly, nuzzling Twilight in the shoulder. "I trust that your stay in Ponyville has been going well so far?"

Twilight nodded her head vigorously, which made Celestia chuckle. Then, the large alicorn moved on to the matter at...er...hoof...when she saw a familiar-looking pair of colored legs walking towards her. "So, then, you must be..."

But Celestia's voice trailed off when she took a look at the human's upper half.

The human was well built, being quite muscled, and tall enough to look her eye to eye, whereas most humans would be at least a head shorter. He, as his short brown hair and the fact that he was shirtless gave away, looked quite intimidating, especially with those seven scars on his torso arranged in the shape of the big dipper, despite the fact that his youthful face showed that he was perhaps about Twilight's age at least, maybe a little older. Those small, blue eyes looked somewhat suspicious, as if checking to see whether Celestia meant well or not. Even then, those eyes seemed to have a hint of sadness in them, as if he had gone through quite a bit in his short life. Not that this was a surprise to the alicorn, since she knew that a life on the steppes of Humania was MUCH tougher to live than a life in even the meanest streets of Manehattan, being filled with frequent hardship and heartbreak. No wonder humans generally seemed much less cheery than ponies of the same age.

Still, though, that face...that face reminded her of...him. The human who created an art he called "Khoid Luu Nudarga". The only living being to have ever been as close to her heart as Luna was, perhaps being, admittedly, closer. And now this human here, who looked so similar...

Baki looked into the eyes of the large pony before him, scanning her to get a look at her. She had white fur, a multi-colored mane, purple eyes like Twilight, and seemed to be wearing a golden breastplate with a purple jewel in it, and golden shoes. She seemed quite surprised to meet him. Why she was so surprised was confusing to Baki. Had she not been a close friend of Temujin, the founder of the art that Baki practiced?

But...those eyes...they looked so sad. She was clearly trying to hide it, but Celestia, as she was apparently named, had perhaps the saddest eyes that Baki had ever seen. Some of it certainly came from the fact that being more than a thousand years old, as Celestia was said to be, meant experiencing great hardship. But most of it seemed to come from something else entirely...

"Uhh...Celestia?" Twilight asked, worried by how her mentor and Baki were staring at each other. "Is everything alright?"

"Oh, erm, of course." Celestia turned her attention back to her student. "It's just...well, Baki, if that's his name, reminds me of a good human friend of mine from long ago."

But then, Baki did something that surprised Celestia, Twilight, and Spike: he entered the conversation, and said something monumental. "Did his name happen to be Temujin, and did he happen to create a fighting art called "Khoid Luu Nudarga"?"

At this, Twilight, Spike, and Celestia looked at him, surprised that someone, even a human, knew such surprising facts, and all asked him at the same time: "How did you know?"

"Any successor of his art would know that." Baki answered, now looking confident.

"Wait, so you're a...uh...practitioner of that art?" Twilight asked the young human, using that specific term for someone who practiced the art. "You know, Khoid Luu Nudarga?"

"Yes, indeed." The human answered without hint of a lie, extending his arms outwards to the sides, and then bringing them quickly down and around in front of him, his hands wreathed in flames, and then extinguishing those flames by closing his fists. "In fact, I'm one of three living masters of it.

"My...never thought that I'd meet a master of the art again." Celestia remarked. "It's been almost 500 years since I previously met one."

Spike, however, was going to take more to convince. "Okay, I know I'm gonna sound skeptical right now, but, Baki, can you show us a little more of how you know how to use that...uh...art? I mean, I just want to make sure you're not some impostor."

"Very well then." Baki accepted. "But since this...tree...house...thing is made of wood, we'll have to go outside if you want me to demonstrate."

So Twilight opened the door, and all four of them went outside so that Baki could demonstrate.

When Baki got into place to begin his demonstration, he first looked at the three. "Ready?"

"Ready." the reply from Twilight, Celestia, and Spike came.

"Alright." The human responded out loud as he got ready. He looked up diagonally, got into a stance, and then...

"ORA ORA ORA ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA! ORAAA!"

In about four or five seconds, Baki, with a sort of rush attack, sent hundreds of fireballs into the air from his fists, all without breaking a sweat. This served to erase Spike's doubts, as only a master of Khoid Luu Nudarga could do something like that.

"Well," Baki asked, turning to Spike, "are you convinced now?"

"Alright, alright, I believe you!" Spike quickly answered, getting a chuckle from Twilight and Celestia.

Nearby, though, Rarity, who was back with what was to be Baki's shirt, was frozen in place, having seen what happened. Baki quickly noticed her, though.

"So is that my shirt, Rarity?" Baki asked the still surprised white unicorn, walking over to her.

"Oh, uh, yes, yes, yes, darling, this is...this is your shirt." Rarity answered, trying to shake it off. "...mind if I help you put it on?"

"Very well." Baki accepted her offer, and with that, he and Rarity went into Twilight's house to put the shirt on, with Baki having figured out how to open and close the door.

When the human and the white unicorn went inside the house, Celestia then turned to Twilight. "So then, as far as how he's interacted with you, what's Baki like?"

"Well, he...actually, he's not that bad." Twilight truthfully responded. "He doesn't exactly seem the happiest all the time, but that might be because of what he's been through, and it's not like he's rude or anything. Actually, he's pretty polite, even if he's a bit blunt and a little more comfortable with violence than I'd like. The only real big problem that there is with him is that he's illiterate, so that means that if he's going to be staying here, he's going to have to learn how to read and write. And me teaching him how to do that could be tedious."

"But it's doable, is it not?" Celestia reminded her. "Who knows? He might pick up on it faster than you think. Chances are, you two might learn a lot from each other."

Then, though, they heard a door opening, and they saw Baki and Rarity coming to them, Baki now wearing a sleeveless shirt (as he requested from Rarity), which was apparently the one that Rarity had brought to him earlier.

"Ah, Baki, you've returned." Celestia noted. "I take it that Rarity made that shirt for you?"

"Yes she did." Baki replied. "In a few minutes, no less."

"Impressive." Celestia remarked sincerely. "Only someone like her could be so skilled." Then, when she saw Rarity leaving, presumably to help Pinkie Pie with a certain activity, the white alicorn turned to leave. "Well then, I shall be returning to Canterlot. I'm hoping to see you again at some point, Baki. It was nice meeting you."

"You as well." Baki responded.

And with that, Celestia took off and flew towards a faintly visible city in the distance. With that, Baki turned back to Twilight.

"Well, Twilight, there was that "party" that Pinkie was setting up for us." Baki reignited the purple unicorn's mental reminders of what was to be done for the day. "Shall we go?"

"I guess so." Twilight agreed to that, and with that, she, Spike, and their new human friend went towards that part of the town.

Along the way, Twilight decided to ask the human about something. "So, Baki, have you ever had friends before?"

"Of course I have." Baki answered. "Other than those older brothers of mine whom I like, I've got around nine or so, and I've known them for about a year and a half. Why do you ask?"

"Well..." Twilight began to explain. "You see, Celestia sent me here to Ponyville to learn about Friendship, and...well...if you know a lot about friendship, perhaps you could help me learn about it?"

"I suppose I could." Baki decided to help Twilight learn. "I indeed know a lot about friendship, and life in general, a side effect of living on the steppes my whole life. If you want to learn things from me, you'll learn a lot."

"Thanks, Baki." Twilight thanked the human. "That'll be a big help."

About a minute later, Twilight and Spike led Baki to a place that they knew as the "Sugarcube Corner", the place where Pinkie Pie lived and worked.

"Here we are." Spike told Baki.

"So this is the place?" Baki asked the two.

"Of course it is." Twilight answered. "Come on. Let's go in!"

And with that, Baki followed Twilight and Spike inside. He could tell that there was quite the feast set up inside.

When he went in the doorway, Pinkie loudly greeted Baki with the four-letter sentence of "Welcome to Equestria, Baki!", and a big cheer went up inside. As Baki drank it all in, he was finding that, even if he was unfamiliar with the local customs, he could get used to living in this small town.

Of course, he just needed a little bit of time...

Sorry if this chapter is so long (seriously, it's the longest chapter I've ever written so far), but I had so much to put down. And at last, it's done. Please post reviews/responses in the review section if you can, but since this is my first attempt at writing something so original as this, try to be positive if you can.

I promise that the next chapter will be shorter.